Iran tests missiles in navy war games near oil strait

Iran on Monday test-fired two missiles on the last day of navy war games near the Strait of Hormuz, official media quoted a navy spokesman as saying.

A Qader ground-to-ship cruise missile and a short-range Nasr anti-ship missile were launched in the tests, which came after the test-firing on Sunday of a medium-range ground-to-air missile in the area, according to Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi.

Another missile, named Nour, was to be fired later Monday, he said, correcting a report by the IRIB state broadcaster that said that missile had already been tested.

The Qader cruise missile "built by Iranian experts successfully hit its target and destroyed it," Mousavi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency.

He said it was "the first time" a Qader missile had been tested.

A shorter-range Nasr missile able to hit targets up to 35 kilometres (22 miles) also successfully hit its target, he told state television.

The Qader missile, also known as Ghader, is said to have a range of 200 kilometres, which is generally considered medium-range or even short-range for a cruise missile, even though IRNA described it as "long-range."

The Nour, which is based on a Chinese missile, the C-802, has a similar range. The short-range Nasr missile is also based on a Chinese design.

"The super-advanced Nour system has been improved in its anti-radar, pursuit of target, navigation, control and its anti-electronic warfare systems, compared to its previous version," Mousavi said, according to the IRIB website.

"It can easily follow and hit the target after identifying it," he said.